Ron Paul on ‘Occupy’ protests: I’m all for going after crony capitalism

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Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R) on Wednesday suggested he supported some aspects of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement — at least insofar as the protest was against “crony capitalism.”

When asked whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry was a crony capitalist during CNBC’s Republican presidential debate, he responded by saying that he did not have enough information to know if that accusation was true.

“But there is a lot of crony capitalism going on in this country, and that has to be distinguished from real capitalism.”

Mentioning the ongoing “Occupy Wall Street” protesters, he added “if you’re going after crony capitalism, I’m all for it.”

Paul said crony capitalists were the ones “that benefit from contract from government, benefit from the Federal Reserve, benefit from all the bailouts. They don’t deserve compassion. They deserve taxation or they deserve to have all their benefits removed.”

“But crony capitalism isn’t when someone makes money and they produce a product,” he continued. “That is very important. We need to distinguish the two. And unfortunately I think some people mix that.”

Watch this video from CNBC, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011, below: